THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release March 5, 1993

THREE OFFICIALS NAMED AT STATE DEPARTMENT

(Washington, DC) The President today expressed his intention to nominate Douglas Bennet, the President and CEO of National Public Radio, to be the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Eric James Boswell to be the Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, and Conrad Harper to be the State Department's Legal Adviser.

"These three positions are essential to the smooth workings of State Department operations," said the President. "Douglas Bennet, Eric James Boswell, and Conrad Harper will fill them with talent, dedication, and the steady hands that are needed to get the job done."

Douglas J. Bennet, Jr. has been with NPR as its President and CEO since 1983. Prior to that, he was President of the Roosevelt Center for American Policy. From 1979 to 1981, he was the Administrator of the Agency for International Development. Prior to that he served for two years as the Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations. Prior to his State Department service, he worked as the first Staff Director of the Senate Budget Committee, as Administrative Assistant to Senators Abraham Ribicoff and Thomas Eagleton, and as an Assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey. He was also a Special Assistant to U.S. Ambassador Chester Bowles in India. He holds a B.A. from Weslyan University, an M.A. from the University of California, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Conrad Harper is a partner in the New York law firm of Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett. For many years, he has been active in a variety of civic affairs. In 1977, he was a consultant to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and served as the government's chief negotiator in the creation of a faculty desegregation and bilingual education plan for the Chicago public schools. From 1977-1981 he was a visiting lecturer in law at Yale Law School. He has served on the board of the Board of the New York Public Library for over a decade, and was formerly one of two Co-Chairman of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. From 1987-1992, he was Chancellor of the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Harper is a graduate of Howard University and Harvard Law School.

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State Department nominations
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Eric James Boswell is a career Foreign Service Officer with more than two decades of experience who is currently serving as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Management. He has served in a variety of challenging administrative positions, including Executive Director of the Bureau for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs from 1987-1990. He has been the Administrative Counselor in Ottawa and in Jordan, and has served at posts in Quebec and Senegal as well. Boswell is a graduate of Stanford University.

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